Time
by Ineska
Summary: She wondered when exactly was the last time she relaxed, or had an evening for herself. She was twenty-six years old, but felt like forty. Haruhi centric


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.

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**Time  
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She was running late again. It seemed, she did that a lot these days. It sometimes felt like time was literally slipping away from her. She hurried down the long, bright lit hallway and stopped in front of a big wooden door. It had a sign on it saying "Conference room". She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and entered.

"Ah, Fujioka-san! There you are I almost feared you wouldn't show up." a man said. He was big and muscled. He had dark brown hair, that was graying… he was maybe in his late thirties or so.

'_You hoped.'_ She thought to herself. He had looked slightly annoyed that she did come, well who could blame him. Fujioka Haruhi was one of the best lawyers in the country, with her wit and intelligence she had won every single case. The man sighed, he knew he would lose, his client was charged of molesting a minor and there was more than enough evidence to lock him away. Until he heard that the victim was represented by the Fujioka Haruhi, he still had little hope.

He studied her, she had a small petite frame and he felt like a giant in the room with her. She moved graciously to her seat and waited for him to start, her deep brown eyes staring at him. He suddenly felt nervous; he shook his head to clear his thoughts and began.

Haruhi was bored; she wasn't listening to the gorilla-like man in front of her. She was just exhausted and wanted to go home. She wondered when exactly was the last time she relaxed, or had an evening for herself. She was twenty-six years old, but felt like forty.

When was the last time she had a good night's sleep? She had bags under her eyes, but her eyes still shone brightly and strong as ever. She never was one to crumble under pressure. She focused on the man again, or rather on his words "… that would be all from my part. I'll give you the documents so you can look through them." He smiled slightly "I'm sorry, that everything is so rushed, But I have another meeting I must attend to, so…"

'_Thank god'_ she thought. He held his hand out for her to shake it. Then he left, he looked quite relieved that this was over with.

She looked at the documents on the table, papers everywhere. She crumpled it all without looking at it. 'Who does he think he is? As if there would be a bargain!' She angrily threw everything in the thrash. 'As if I would let a pedophile walk away without the rightful punishment he deserved!' She still had her pride and she was still as stubborn as in the old days. She was always devoted to her job and she always did everything in her power to put criminals behind cold bars.

Well, this was the job she had always dreamed of. But looking back now, she never expected it to be this hard, this tiring. She sighed and gathered her belongings. She wanted to be home as fast as possible. She drove fast, anxious to be in her cozy apartment. Even though she had lots of money, she lived a simple life. A small apartment in a neat area with friendly neighbors.

But with the money that was earned, she helped her father. She bought him a nice place, that used to be a bar and Ranka had transformed it into a night club. The main event was of course the karaoke night. Her father had a nice income with the club, so she didn't have to worry about him.

She entered her apartment. It was warm, it was small and it was cozy. It was home. She quickly dressed herself in casual, comfortable clothes and finally sat down on the comfy couch. She inhaled and exhaled loudly; she closed her eyes and just shut her mind down. She didn't want to think about anything. Too tired to move to her bed, she lay down and drifted of to sleep.

When Haruhi woke up, her whole body felt stiff. She cursed herself for being so lazy yesterday. She sighed and rubbed her sore limbs. She looked at the clock: 6 a.m. too early to be awake on a Sunday. But she couldn't go back to sleep, so she took a long hot shower and rinsed her body thoroughly with soap. After she brushed her teeth, she felt like a new person. Haruhi was in a better mood and even the soreness had lessened.

She went to the kitchen to make breakfast, but stopped when she saw the pile of letters on the table. _'Oh no…' _That happened often; she would bring mail inside, but then just leave it on the table. That's why she often had problems with bill-paying; she just couldn't tend to it with all the work. She rubbed her temples and started looking through them.

One particular envelope caught her eye. It looked expensive; she knew right away what it was but opened it anyway. It was an invitation to a gathering of the former Host club members. It was an event that happened every three years or so. She didn't go to the last one; as always she had no time.

As she read the neat writing of Haninozuka Mitsukuni, she felt a pang of sadness. Haruhi hasn't seen or heard from any of them in almost six years, and she missed them dearly. Sometimes she even dreamed that they would break into her office, when she had tons of paper work to do, and drag her away like they used to do in those days. She'd give anything to hear Tamaki describe another foolish idea of his, or the bickering of Hikaru and Kaoru.

It was funny actually, how close they were back then… and now, she didn't know anything about them. She knew that life had changed her - not very extremely, but she wasn't a naïve little girl anymore. She was a woman now, and a strong willed woman at that. She contemplated for a moment, but then made her decision.

Haruhi will go to the gathering and she'll have fun and relax, even if only for one day. She will see her former school mates, and also her best friends. It's in two weeks. She'll have all her work done and then give herself some vacation time.

She deserved it more than anyone.**

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**This is just something that was nagging at me for days, so I wrote it down. I hope you like it... and if you don't, that's okay too.**

**Thank you for reading and please review.**


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